CONTROVERSIAL plans for a five-storey development at the site of the Sandbanks yacht club are set to be refused.

The proposals, submitted by Jacob Carr Homes and Phoenix Spencer Sandbanks, have attracted dozens of letters of objection raising concerns about the scale of the designs.

Their opposition has been supported by Poole council planning officers who are recommending that the application be refused planning permission when it is considered by councillors next week.

Submitted in April, the proposals include the provision of ground floor commercial units with the upper four floors accommodating 31 flats.

A similar scheme to redevelop the site were submitted in 2016 but refused by the council’s planning committee with councillors saying that the scale of the building was “too much, too quickly”.

In a bid to address the concerns, the latest proposals set the fifth floor back from the rest of the building which, a planning statement says, would hide it from ground level.

“From Panorama Road the fifth storey will not be readily visible and therefore the building would never be read in the street scene as a full five-storey building,” Pure Town Planning consultant Matthew Annen says.

He adds that the development “creates a carefully balanced and attractive contemporary proposal that would not represent an overdevelopment of the site, nor would it create an overbearing impact on the neighbouring plots”.

However, Poole council planning officer Claire Moir has recommended that members of its planning committee refuse the application saying that the changes “do not overcome concerns”.

She says: “The current proposals have addressed some of the previous refusal reasons by proposing to retain the restaurant use as part of the composite uses of the boatyard.

“The bulk and massing of the building nevertheless remains very similar to that previously refused and as such does not overcome concerns about these aspects of the proposals.

“The proposals would therefore result in a development which by reason of its site coverage; height; scale and bulk; massing; and width, would not reflect or enhance the pattern of development in the surrounding area.”

The application will be considered at Thursday’s meeting of the planning committee.